Earth From Space: An Astronaut's Quest to Protect Our 'Fragile Oasis'

Below:

Next story in Space

From 220 miles above Earth on the International Space Station,
American astronaut Ron Garan certainly has a unique perspective
of our home planet.

As people around the world celebrate Earth Day tomorrow (April
22), Garan and his five crewmates on the space station will be
privy to spectacular and awe-inspiring views of the Earth from
orbit. [ Amazing
Photos by Astronaut Ron Garan ]

Garan, a NASA spaceflyer on his second spaceflight, is the
creator of the blog Fragile Oasis, which he
launched before leaving Earth as a way to share his experiences
(and the experiences of other astronauts) to inspire people to
cherish the beauty and wonder of the Earth. After all, only a
select few get the chance to fly in space.

The blog posts and photos afford readers a glimpse of life on the
massive orbiting outpost, and by shining a light on Earth from
space, Garan and his colleagues hope to mobilize people to
improve the conditions on our fragile planet. Garan also sends
photos to Earth via Twitter, where he posts updates on his flight
as @Astro_Ron.

It was Garan's own experiences on the STS-124 mission of the
shuttle Discovery in 2008 that stirred the emotions in him. While
performing a spacewalk, Garan described the sensation of seeing
the station framed against Earth in space. [ Top
10 Views of Earth from Space ]

"It was absolutely incredible to see this enormous space station,
the most complex structure ever built," Garan wrote. "Built by 16
diverse nations, all working together, to accomplish this
tremendous achievement in orbit. To see this magnificent
accomplishment of humanity against the backdrop of the
indescribably beautiful Earth 250 miles below was breathtaking.
At this moment I wasn't just looking down at the Earth but I was
looking at a planet hanging in the blackness of space."

"It was a very moving experience to see the absolute beauty of
the planetwe have been given. But as I looked down at this
indescribably beautiful, fragile oasis, this island that has been
given to us and has protected all life from the harshness of
space, I couldn't help but to also think of all the inequity that
exists on our fragile oasis."

Garan reflected on these "unfortunate realities," and the
poignant contrast between the various forms of inequality in the
world and the natural beauty of the planet. [ 10
of the Most Polluted Places on Earth ]

"This experience reaffirmed a belief that I held long before
flying in space, that is, each and every one of us on this planet
has the responsibility to leave it a little better than we found
it," Garan wrote.

Other participating bloggers on Fragile Oasis include veteran
astronauts Douglas Wheelock, Nicole Stott and Don Pettit. Each
has been a member of space shuttle missions as well as
long-duration stays aboard the space station.

Garan and two cosmonauts, Andrey Borisenko and Alexander
Samokutyaev, launched toward the station on April 4from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

To celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day tomorrow, NASA is
conducting a
series of online activities, including a video contest and
webchats with Earth scientists.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on
Twitter@denisechow.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration
news on Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.